Memorial Hermann Ironman 70.3 Texas - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Good swim, mostly. Stayed within my zone and maintained a steady effort the entire way. Breathing was a perfect rhythm...every 5 strokes during the long stretches and every 3 strokes when I was nearing a buoy.

Found some clear water from the get go, so not too much contact. A little past the midway point though someone was grabbing and pulling my feet from behind. I let it slide a couple times but the third time I upped the kicking power.

Did reasonably well holding my line but didn't quite hug all the buoys on the long stretch. Also encountered some water in the goggles with about 700 yds. to go, but it didn't have too much of a negative impact.

I also made a concerted effort to limit my kick. I'm a very solid upper body swimmer, so I went a few different stretches where I kept my kick to a bare minimum to conserve the legs for the rest of the day.

Garmin says I swam 2252 yards (1:50 pace)

Keep a better line, but all in all, a good swim because I was able to dictate how it went for me. Improved over last year's time a little bit...which is good since the swim training this year was less.

Wetsuit strippers did a great job this year. Pleased with T1 considering I needed to get my flat kit and gels stuffed in the back of my tri top. Also stopped to get sunscreen slathered on my arms...tried to avoid the lobster burn I got the last 2 years.

A little more efficient at the bike...grabbing stuff to go and getting out of there.

Took the first bit of the ride easy to get the HR stabilized, get through a lot of traffic and onto the seawall. Once I was there, I was able to find a good pace...not too easy or too hard...and maintain it. Had some moments where I felt like the quads might want to cramp, but I did some stretching and re-positioning to ward them off.

Only took water at the 2nd aid station...otherwise I avoided them like the plague and tried to steer clear of the traffic. Did a good job with that.

Nothing too spectacular on the ride...hit the turn and enjoyed a nice tailwind and a couple extra mph on the ride home. Funny how I didn't even "feel" the headwind going out.

Very pleased with the ride. I think everything came together for me this year - finally - to have a good ride. A new bike, no flats, and a favorable wind. I thought I was going to go sub-3:10...almost, but not quite. Still ecstatic because it crushed last year's time by about 26 minutes.

Nutrition: 1 gel about every hour (:45, 1:45, 2:45), about 10-12 oz. of Gatorade and probably 36 oz. of water

Keep training and focusing on the bike. It's going to come around for me some day, but I have to stick with it over the long term to really see the results I want.

Decided to take my feet out of my shoes before getting to transition...needs some work, but it worked ok for me being the first time.

Crowded bike rack slowed the racking a little...but everything else was solid. Stopped again going out to have more sunscreen applied.

Learn to dismount without having to stop.

Came off the bike feeling pretty good and it was hard to try to dial back the pace in the first couple miles. I was hoping to do the first 2 at about 11:00 pace and then gradually build to where I could maintain around 10:30.

Unfortunately, my stomach had other GI ideas. Somewhere between miles 2 and 3 I started feeling stomach cramps and it slowed me tremendously, putting to rest my strategy. In fact, I was relegated to walking a few stretches because the cramping was intensifying. If I kept about 11:30 pace, it didn't get worse, but didn't get much better either. Not sure if this happened because of too much hydration on the bike or too much Gatorade/gels? About 4 or 5 miles in I was able to belch a few times and get the discomfort to go away completely until mile 11 when I was trying to hammer it home.

It was also HOT out there. Even though the temperature only hit 79, It had to be at least 10 degrees hotter on the pavement. The airport was especially hot. Fortunately, the last couple of laps there was more cloudcover and the wind picked up to help me keep cool. I wasn't the only one out there struggling with the heat and GI issues.

Other than that, I don't remember too much of the run. It seemed to go by rather quickly. I knew I had a great shot at meeting my race goal of sub-6:30 coming off the bike. In my head, I knew even a bad run would still get me close to the goal. I also wanted another run PR, and was hoping for 2:20. I think I would have crushed it had it not been for the GI issues. Still, 2:29 with at least a half dozen short walk breaks is impressive for me. The run has come a long way...easily my most improved discipline.

Nutrition: I took water at every aid station and Perform at 3 different aid stations...the second time it made my stomach want to act up so I waited until the very last aid station before I took any more. Did not have any gels on the run because I knew the stomach was not in a very good mood. Did't seem to affect me not having gels on the run.

Keep running...do more longer runs in the training leading up to a HIM.
Find a way to not struggle in miles 7-8...in all my HMs and HIM runs, I tend to slow in those 2 miles the most.

Grape Gatorade as soon as I found my mom...a little stretching, a slice and a half of pizza, water, banana...then packed up to go get cleaned up at the hotel.


Heat and stomach cramping on the run.


Good job this year...best of the last 3 years. They had plenty of food post-race. Had to wait on pizza, but the wait wasn't long...better than them having shut it down before I finished last year.

Great friendly volunteers and amazing spectator support. The course was crowded with lots of folks cheering...even for the slow people like me.